Business Roundtable

The Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of 150 of the largest corportaions operating in America.

BR promotes voluntary cuts to greenhouse gases
The PR firm Porter Novelli is helping the Business Roundtable's "Climate RESOLVE" program, O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. Climate RESOLVE was created to encourage companies to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, responding to George W. Bush's call for a voluntary 18 percent reduction of emissions by 2012 and attempting to undermine an international treaty on GHG.

The Climate RESOLVE campaign kicked off on September 23, 2004 with ads in the Washington Post and Roll Call to be followed by "one-pagers" for "Congressional aides, environmental officials and reporters to keep them abreast of efforts to control greenhouse gas."

Climate RESOLVE is also hosting a two-day "GHG Management Workshop," featuring a talk by White House Council on Environmental Quality chair James L. Connaughton. The Business Roundtable says 70 percent of its members have signed up for Climate RESOLVE. "They are eager to avoid the mandated cuts that are going into effect in much of the world under the Kyoto Protocol, the pending international treaty of global warming," O'Dwyer's writes.

Support for Bush Administration initiatives
"The Business Roundtable and the National Association of Manufacturers have set up two umbrella organizations" to privatize Social Security and limit class action lawsuits, the Washington Post repored in February 2005. "One, the Alliance for Worker Retirement Security, will pressure Congress directly, capitalizing on the lobbying staffs and corporate executives of the member companies. The other, the Coalition for the Modernization and Protection of America's Social Security, will conduct a nationwide television and grass-roots pressure campaign costing $15 million to $20 million. COMPASS has hired OnPoint Advocacy to conduct grass-roots lobbying and Apco Worldwide Inc. for public relations. Tita Freeman, communications director at the Business Roundtable, said COMPASS has a budget of $15 million to $20 million, which may grow as the fight progresses."

Members
http://www.businessroundtable.org/pdf/members.pdf

Contact details
Business Roundtable 1615 L Street NW Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: (202) 872-1260 Web: http://www.businessroundtable.org/

SourceWatch resources

 * Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth
 * Philip M. Condit - former chair

Articles

 * "PN helps BR on global warming", O'Dwyers PR Daily, September 22, 2004.
 * Thomas B. Edsall, "Conservatives Join Forces for Bush Plans: Social Security, Tort Limits Spur Alliance," Washington Post, February 13, 2005.
 * David DeGraw, "Full Report: The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States of America," Amped Status (ampedstatus.com), February 15-27, 2010.